At 61 years old, the NYPD's "Chief of Department" Joseph J. Esposito is the highest uniformed ranking officer in the department. He's almost on the cusp of the mandatory NYPD retirement age of 63, but judging by this video, it looks like he's been taking his calcium supplements. Shot during a march Saturday night and obtained by the Daily News the video shows Esposito vigorously wielding his baton on unsuspecting Occupy Wall Street protesters. The action, as it were, begins at the 1:19 mark, and you may want to enlarge to full screen:
Esposito was using brute force to keep demonstrators compliant with police orders, which, you know, is what police get paid to do. It's difficult to say from this video whether it was justified, but the Times seems to intimate it wasn't, interpreting the video thus: "The chief, holding his baton at both ends, delivers a blow at shoulder level, knocking him back. When the man lurches forward, the chief delivers what appears to be a more aggressive second blow, aiming up and striking the man high on the shoulders, and possibly the face, as his head jerks back from the force."
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne, on the other hand, succinctly says "The video speaks for itself." Whatever you think, isn't it nice to know Esposito's still getting out there, instead of sitting around in his Zubaz smoking Pall Malls and watching Rockford Files reruns all day? This guy's been on the force 41 years, and according to the Times he's "perhaps the most beloved by rank-and-file officers."
And he's sprightly, too! As one witness told the News, "[Esposito] was quicker on his feet than the scooters." Esposito could probably take apart one of those candy-ass scooters with his razor sharp teeth. He's like the Jack Palance of New York cops! If anything good comes out of this Occupy Wall Street business, it'll be a buddy movie starring Esposito and the Hipster Cop as a couple of mismatched cops partnered together to track down some rogue terrorist poop protesters.
